On this edition of ST -- with the Tour de France now in full swing -- we learn about both the origins and the development of the greatest race in all of cycling. Our guest is Peter Cossins, who's written about professional cycling since the early 1990s -- and who is a contributing editor at Procycling Magazine. His new book, just out, is called "The First Tour de France: Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris." As was noted of this book by a critic for Podium Cafe (a journal of cycling news, analysis, and opinion): "Essential.... [This book] takes you back to the race itself. Cossins produces a deeply researched and detailed description of the race that toggles between background information on the race's organization and the individual stages, with long stretches of real-time-style stage reporting, one chapter at a time. The effect of this, especially the latter, is soaring."
"The First Tour de France: Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris"
